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Guppy out as Fire President and GM

Chicago

The Chicago Fire has just announced that president and general manager John Guppy and the Fire have parted ways. Andell Sports Managing Director (and former Chivas USA GM) Javier Leon has been installed as the Fire’s interim president and GM.

The announcement comes in the same week that the Red Bulls announced that managing director Marc deGrandpre resigned from the Red Bulls to take a job in the private sector.

What do you think of the news? Surprised? Expected it? Glad to see Guppy go? Sad to see him leave? Want Peter Wilt back? Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Be careful wishing for Wilt RBNY fans….onionsack will come on here and rip u to shreds…anyone wishing to understand more about this can see my signature on BS (my name is the same) haha

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  2. Live in Chicago…turned my back on FIRE after AEG hired Guppy. I am so glad to see this guy gone. He has been a disaster for MLS. Seems to me, we got Guppy from NY where he was ineffective and fans were glad to see him go. Guppy is a money man searching for the next corporate $ and ignores the fans.

    I know the FIRE will not rehire Peter Wilt, unless there is some sort of shared GM/FO with the WPS team. This could happen as the FIRE have followed NY with separating on-field and off-field management duties (technical director + general manager). More likely is that Hauptman is looking for input from a respected former GM in Chicago to guide his search. After all, Wilt should know better than most how the GM duties have changed in MLS over the years.

    I really like the optimistic comparison between Hauptman and Mark Cuban…if he can shake the stodginess and secrecy out of MLS the way Cuban has in NBA that might be a good thing…if not his actions (antics) should provide good fodder for the bloggers and reporters.

    Isn’t this better than reading and talking about the Beckhams ad nauseum. I might even start watching FIRE/MLS again…once the Champions League is over or the Liverpool saga gets too annoying.

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  3. sidenetting-

    “Okay, he’s a bit crazy in his hate for N.Y. but he’ll get over that.”

    an owner who actually fuels a rivalry between his club and a confrence club is a bad thing?? all Hauptman’s done was make sure that we’ll have a sell out mad house when NY comes to town…. in all honesty, i think his fueling the rivalry will only help the MLS… i truely enjoy the banter going back n’ forth between the owners, teams, and fans…could open up for some nice exposure into the league…

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  4. Guppy was fired in San Jose; probably thinking he was headed there for the match on Saturday. Maybe a little bit classier then his handling of the Sarachin firing.

    I can’t imagine that he would go to the Red Bulls, but seeing that his mentor, Kevin Payne, was the major impetus in his hiring of Osario, I’m sure Payne will have his say on where this nitwit ends up.

    He’ll for sure surface somewhere, another recycled incompetent that has little , to nothing to offer the true evolution of the game in this country.

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  5. Ahhhh, the other shoe drops. What the hell is going on here? De Grandpre (sp?), the yummy details of the Osario “Cluster Nutter” and now Guppy. If I were a journalist I’d clean my slate and dedicate the next few weeks to digging into this. Although, I take it from FIRE fans that Guppy had this coming to him, a few years too late in the opinion of many.

    And oh, nice going there Ives, you just went and got Guppy fired. Happy now? (Just bustin’ your chops, dude.)

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  6. Ives i see your taking a lot of heat bout the whole ny/chi thing from the chicago fans. I thought you were pretty evenly going after both organizations and people involved in them. I’m not really a fan of either team, and it just painted a better picture of osorio and guppy…. we’ll have to wait and see where they end up in the coming years

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  7. I’m shocked but I don’t see how this might effect the team on the field. Maybe off the field the new guy can bring in some new players that’re good. I don’t really know, but hopefully the change is for the better.

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  8. Fantastic week all around for MLS fandom. There is some real animosity starting to bubble up to the surface and I couldn’t be happier about it.

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  9. Ives:

    Could you please write an article about Alexi Lalas and his disastrous handling of the L.A. Galaxy, not to mention his whole history of poor management. Throw in a bunch of his famous quotes too. You know, about how the L.A. Galaxy are the flagship of MLS. You could liken that flagship to the Titanic. Then, of course, you would have to mention the quote about the style of play that he has installed at L.A., sexy football. For that you could say something about the team needing to take Viagra. You get the idea. Hopefully within the week we would here about Alexi Lalas, Marc DeGrandpre, and John Guppy renting an apartment together.

    BRING BACK PETER WILT!

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  10. maybe Ives not letting the story die finally led to Guppy getting canned. I hope so and NJ fans can thank you for immediately making the Fire better. More likely this was already in the works because the owner saw through Guppys bullshit like the rest of us who cared.

    The fun part is if JCO left due to any mistrust with Guppys decisions. JCO left for NJ, in turn NJ weakened itself for this season ($800,000 & a needed 1st round pick) to get him. He tried to bring Conde & Marmol with him to NJ. If he’d have only given this new owner a chance instead of jumping to NJ at his 1st chance, he’d be set up perfectly to succeed. Now he’s handicapped in NJ and probably won’t last through the season.

    Thanks Ives for the site, I knew it would pay off.

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  11. I’m all for Pete Wilt for a second term but it would make no sense if he didn’t see eye to eye with the new owner. Plus I’m curious to see who he uncovers in his search….or scared(A Lalas)

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  12. Nuts. Guppy was negatively affecting Chicago and that’s a very good thing in this New York fan’s opinion. Ah, well. I guess now we’ll just have to depend on Chicago’s incompetence instead.

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  13. I think Guppy might have read Hauptman’s comments in the Daily Herald (lukewarm towards Guppy at best) and probably brought things to a head. Obviously Hauptman meant what he said (poor marketing in Mexico, etc.) so Guppy is gone.

    I really like this Hauptman guy. He’s a poor man’s Mark Cuban. Okay, he’s a bit crazy in his hate for N.Y. but he’ll get over that. I like the passion. I like that he has high ideals for the club. The fan base will likely take to him like they took to Peter Wilt. It’s probably too much to expect Peter back, but we can only hope. If anything, we should expect Hauptman to do more of what Peter would do – keep reaching out to the fans AND to the press. The bunker mentality is just plain stupid. I’m glad it’s likely gone with Guppy’s departure.

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  14. the real story is that he wasn’t fired but he had an out clause in his contract…and since he’s such a jerk he exercised it instead of getting the fire just compensation. 😉

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  15. No I don’t think thats the case.(Ives’ story and then him going) I was never a fan of Guppy’s “no comment” approach to things here in Chicago. We need someone to be accountable for their actions be it good or bad. He was not and it was about time.

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  16. Wow, i wonder if either incident has to do with the other. Some major payoffs etc?

    Doubtful.

    I bet they just called Guppy on his sh-t

    (i dunno if we can swear in the comments).

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